FAQ

When is your next show?
There isn't one.

Hey guys whats up??? You guys down to play ____ on ____??
Probably not. But can't hurt to ask.

Will you dudes ever play again?
Time will tell.

Are you guys still together?
No, but we're not not together either.

Come to ____!
If the price is right, okay.

Will you ever do a European Tour?
We did two, plus a couple UK ones. So, already did.

How come I can't find tour dates anywhere?!
Because there aren't any.

Give me new music!
It doesn't work like that.

Where can i find the lyrics of your songs?
They're out there. There used to be a downloadable Word doc of the 2 lyrics on our old label's website, which must be floating around somewhere. If you want the Alive As You Are lyrics, buy a physical copy.

Jared please call me.
No.

Where's the best place to buy 2 on vinyl?
The 2 LP sounds like shit. Buy the CD, and just get the vinyl for the bonus track.

Where are you guys??
California. We all do stuff. You might particularly like White Fence.

Please don't say you've broken up.
Okay.

All questions derived from real questions asked by real people, over the last few years. Sorry we didn't answer sooner.

DAYTROTTER

Holy cow, it's up. Our long-lost Daytrotter session. It was back on our last tour, last November, when we devoted a day to driving the 266 miles from Columbia, Missouri, to Davenport, Iowa, to record 4 songs for Daytrotter. Which we'd always wanted to do, because not only do you get that sharp illustration, but they record it all live to 1/4" tape. A few memories remain - it was frigid. We ate at a Chevron Subway for lunch. Speaking of gas stations, we witnessed, from the comfort of our hotel room, what we were pretty sure was a tweak'd-out armed robbery at the convenience store across the street the night before. Rob was targeted and embarrassed by a local with a loud vehicular public address system in the drive-thru line at Starbucks that morning ("You with the beard. That is a kickass beard."). They had a ton of great gear at the studio, a stone's throw from the Mississippi River. And we were in and out of there in 2 hours so we could make way for Delta Spirit's all-night session - subsequently, 9+ months elapsed during which the promotional value of the session evaporated. But if you were wondering what we sounded like on November 17, 2010 (not yesterday, despite what their page says), Hear It Is.

In particular, check out our pretty-hot reworking of "Immediate Undertaking" and our cover of the Scott Walker original "Rhymes of Goodbye".

dreams, they're for those who sleep

part two:


Thanksgiving in Rhode Island


This one's called "Sitting on the BQE in Brooklyn at sunset, still trying to make it to Baltimore in time for our set."
Not "A relaxing drive through the woods."


a backyard


Delta Spirit, Ottobar, Baltimore


proud artist




Christmas in Laramie








photos by will

we still want a hula hoop

Since we're driving/sledding through our first snow right now on our way out of Pittsburgh, now would be a good time to mention that you can now download and forever own our Instant Christmas Classic from Target.com. Yes, this is your Christmas present, and no you're not getting anything else.

TOUR

Time for our big annual fall tour! With Delta Spirit. We play, and then they play. It's a damn good bill.

Nov 15. Lawrence, KS. Jackpot Saloon
Nov 16. Columbia, MO. Mojo's
Nov 17. Rock Island, IL. Speakeasy
Nov 18. Madison, WI. High Noon Saloon
Nov 19. Milwaukee. Turner Hall
Nov 20. South Bend, IN. Legends of Notre Dame
Nov 22. Buffalo. Tralf Music Hall
Nov 23. NYC. Webster Hall
[HAPPY THANKSGIVING]
Nov 26. TBA
Nov 27. Pawtucket, RI. The Met
Nov 29. Baltimore. Ottobar
Nov 30. Pittsburgh. Brillobox
Dec 1. Covington, KY. The Mad Hatter
Dec 2. Asheville, NC. Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall
Dec 3. Nashville. Mercy Lounge
Dec 4. Chicago. Metro
Dec 7. TBA
Dec 8. TBA
Dec 9. Santa Barbara. Soho
Dec 10. San Diego. House of Blues

Highlights to include winter-home shopping in Milwaukee, visiting Rudy's grave, Thanksgiving dinner at Rob's folks' house and then going to Foxwoods (it's the world's largest casino), driving thru the Tim Hortons by Foxwoods, playing in a college town over Thanksgiving Break (hint hint), finding the brothel whose services Mayor Jerry Springer paid for with a personal check and then eating at the chili parlour next door, and playing (ahem) The Elite Club. Oh, and driving.

while you were sleeping

You probably deserve an update, so here. We're 98.7% done cutting mic to tape and have started mixing what's done. Bid our home sweet Tenderloin home adieu yesterday and relocated up the 101 in Sonoma County to Prairie Sun to finish this up. Which is a handsome reward after 2 weeks of not being able to, y'know, go outside for fresh air, out of concern for zombie attack, not to mention a lack of fresh air. This place has chickens running around and tractors in the driveway and and all the vibe that makes Tom Waits records as vibey as they are. Down on the drag is Red's Recovery Room, immortalized in song.

Still, all the $3 Vietnamese sandwiches $3 can buy will be missed. It's been bed-to-studio-to-bed-to-studio-to-studio-to-bed ad nauseum, with a jacuzzi here and a repeated bootlegged-Fleetwood-Mac-Tusk-documentary viewing there, betwixt, like this:



Got 13 songs recorded and can't fathom any of em not making the cut. Convinced our friend Maria Taylor to come up on Friday to sing with us and wound up teaching us how to open a bottle of wine with nothing more than your shoe and a wall (lesson: it doesn't work). Saturday, got a pro's pro to come play all those pedal steel licks you hear in your dreams. Sunday, up to Sonoma. Maybe you noticed this is gonna sound different. Point is, shit's good.

Song of the Viking

Scandinavia. Nary a plastic Viking helmet has been purchased, much less observed for sale, and I mean, what the hell? Håve they nø pride? We sadly haven't seen much/any of this nether-land, except for the parcels immediately roadside (beautiful though they are), because we've been driving the whole time. This is a big place. There are still people named Leif here.

Hamburg to Stockholm is a long, lonely drive, with either aurora borealis or very-distant city lights as your guide. You'll arrive in the wee hours of the morning, after two ferries and three different currenies, some of which you could fashion into a sweet necklace.

northern Germany

We stayed in an old prison (ca. 1863) on an island in Stockholm. We've stayed in our fair share of hostels that felt like jail cells, but this one was actually a jail cell. A nice one, at that. The day never really gets going up here. We played in the nicest theatre of all time (ca. 1863). Highly recommended, if you're a band of a certain caliber traveling thru Stockholm and looking for a cool place to play.

Berns, Stockholm

Oslo to Stockholm consisted of mostly two-lane blacktop in snow/slush, past many lakes, over many hills, thru a veritable winter wonderland. Then, turns out, the Norse run a real tight border, especially once they catch wind that you're a band. Pockets emptied, contents
explained, genitals handled, the works. Everybody except Will, of whom it musta been assumed was a narc. The ultimate was when Sgt. O'Norse mumbled a mouthful of foreign tongue into his radio and punctuated it with "te DOGS." Which was terrifying for no reason, until he let us go 2 minutes later.

Oslo girls are the polar opposites of Paris girls. It's like they've never seen dudes before. They're sweet. Maybe French girls are sweet too, but they don't make ostentatious displays of it. Unless they're from Chile. They want you to drink all night with them and never get drunk, except all you wanna do is sleep, in the land of the midnight sun.*

Bummer we didn't get to experience Copenhagen at all. Although the book's yet to be closed on that.

* except in winter. land of the noon moon.

kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet (part deux)

Hey, check it, we're on this hot tour, just to heat your frosted, brittle bones. Thought it'd be wise to exclusively seek out the coldest parts of These Re-United States. A fine band from Seattle called These Arms Are Snakes, who are on everybody's favorite baseball-themed record label, the esteemed Suicide Squeeze, have been gracious enough to bring us along, and All The Saints are coming along too. One very exciting thing for all involved is that most of these shows are all ages, more or less, so those who have been so unfairly excluded the last many times we've been in town can finally come hang with us, in our van, which locks from the inside, in the poorly-lit alley behind the club, which is in a less-than-desirable part of town. All that info's on our MySpace, natch.

In the meantime, here's a picture of Tim and Jared on TV, from the last tour.

more stuff you missed

we don't have a very good track record.








roughin' it. kinda.


this shit's a gold mine.

a real shocker of a session

More videostuff, you said? Well, here. You should thank ShockHound for this gem.





Happy 2009. Our resolution is to come see you.

optimistically yours,
the dudes

you're in Iowa